School Board Furloughs Teachers

Eight Positions Eliminated; Six Resignations Accepted

—BY RICK HIDUK—

The Wyalusing Area School Board meeting held at the high school on Monday evening drew more than 250 local citizens concerned about drastic measures proposed by the board and school administrators in recent days. But the impassioned pleas of more than two-dozen parents, students, and community leaders could not prevent the inevitable.

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There are three groups that each contribute 7.5 % of school employee salaries to the pension fund: the employee, the state, and the school district. When the stock market was soaring the state was lenient on collecting from the school districts and they did not need to contribute the full amount while the employees continued contributing at the full 7.5% rate. In 2008 the stock market crashed and the pension fund, like many others with 401k plans, lost a huge amount. Now the state is requiring full payment from school districts as well as payment for the previous years. This is where the pension crisis developed. In short, the school district employees did their share to keep this fund afloat and do not deserve the blame for this crisis.
When the state legislature voted to increase school employee pensions by changing the multiplier from 2.0 to 2.5, they changed their own retirement multiplier to 3.0. Are they considering a reduction on their pension plan?